Former Orange County deputy arrested in child sex case

Joseph Anthony Moss, a former Orange County deputy, was arrested… (Seminole County Sheriff's…)

July 25, 2011|By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

A former Orange County deputy was arrested in Casselberry, accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy and using the Internet to lure the teen to a meet-up spot.

Joseph Anthony Moss, 47, is free on $10,000 bail. He was arrested two weeks ago by Casselberry police.

According to his arrest report, a patrol officer found Moss and the boy in Moss' SUV in a parking lot early one afternoon. The boy was pulling up his pants.

The boy told authorities they had met on an Internet site, had gotten together five times and had engaged in sex.

Moss would not answer questions from the police, according to his arrest report.

It was not Moss' first sex-related arrest. He also was accused of possessing child pornography in Orange County in 1999.

According to court records, he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge – possession of obscene material, a misdemeanor – and was placed on a year of probation.

Moss worked as an Orange County deputy from 1987 to 2000.

He could not be reached for comment.

He also is a former scout leader, according to the Central Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America. His association with that group ended in 1999, according to Bill Gosselin, a regional executive.